Surgeons have identified and studies have shown, laparoscopic techniques require greater concentration and place greater mental and physical stress on surgeons than open surgery. The tools that laparoscopic surgeons must use are difficult to use and because of suboptimal design, they may actually be doing harm to the highly trained physician. Additionally, poor laparoscopic tools increase physician fatigue, creating potential for errors that may harm the patient.
Specialized instruments are required for laparoscopic surgery due to the small ports. The design of these instruments is critical to the result of the surgery. Current laparoscopic instruments have been found to be very poorly designed ergonomically and it is likely that ergonomics were not considered at all. Some practicing laparoscopic surgeons frequently experience post operation pain or numbness. This is generally attributable to pressure points on the laparoscopic tool handle. Furthermore, four different handle designs used on laparoscopic tools (shank, pistol, axial, and ring handle) have been found to result in either painful pressure spots or caused extreme ulnar deviation.
Compared to general surgery, laparoscopic surgery is a new practice. Therefore, the tools available to perform the procedures are not yet perfected. Limited work has been done by others to improve both the tools and procedures used in laparoscopy; however, an optimized tool, based on task analysis of laparoscopic surgery and sound ergonomic principles has not been prototyped and tested fully to date.
Furthermore, non-ergonomic tool handles often cause pain and discomfort and also result in painful pressure spots. It would be beneficial to have a laparoscopic tool with an ergonomic handle, an intuitive hand/tool interface, such as a control sphere, and an articulating end effector. It would also be beneficial to have an ergonomic tool handle with an intuitive hand/tool interface for use with other types of tools.